


Stormy Winds and Autumn Leaves

by PoliticallyObsessedScholar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: And angst, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, I am a bit sore, all Harry does to deserve this summary is everything he did in DH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 08:31:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8705170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoliticallyObsessedScholar/pseuds/PoliticallyObsessedScholar
Summary: There is nothing Ginny Weasely would like to do more than hit the Saviour of the Wizarding World with one of her bat-bogey hexes. For many reasons (most notably the fact that he's the Saviour of the Wizarding World) this would be a bad idea. So when Luna Lovegood invites her to go find the nesting place of the Whirlyburl, Ginny leaps at the chance.





	

Sometimes when she's sitting on the back steps of the Burrow, looking up at the stars, Ginny liked to pretend the War never happened. If the war never happened, then Fred wouldn't be dead. If the war never happened. then George wouldn't be stopping halfway through his sentences, remembering it's just him, and then find a forlorn and lonely expression falling back across his face. If the war didn't happen, she wouldn't have found Percy out in Dad's shed one night when she crept out to fly - crying so hard he sounded like he would shake himself apart with the force of it, slamming his fists against the floor and forcing out words about how much he hated himself, that he should have died, and if only he hadn't made that damned joke. 

The air was crisp tonight, it filled her lungs and seemed to help her breathe better simply by being there. With her knees drawn up to her chin and circled by her arms, sitting in a thin nightdress, Ginny tried to forget that tomorrow she was going to see Harry and break up with him. Technically they were already broken up, had been since he decided to place her on a pedestal at the end of fifth year and had gone off on his noble quest. She hadn't asked to be Helen, hadn't asked Harry to charge into battle and keep her safe. She was Æthelflæd and Boudica. She was the dancing wind that blew in a storm. She was an eagle flying fierce and free. She'd led a rebellion and broken into the Headmaster's office. She'd been collected by Slughorn on her own merits. She was not born to sit meekly by - to be bridled and cossetted.

Her mother and her brothers all believed they would reunite  - that, when she saw Harry, she'd simply fall back into his arms and sometime in the future they would become husband and wife. She didn't have the heart to tell them that she might have, before the Battle of Hogwarts. She might have, if he'd apologised or called her brave or fierce or strong. Instead he'd agreed with her mother and tried to lock her in a room in a castle for her own protection. She was no princess, no trophy, or prize. Not for her were the notions of Victorian femininity designed. She was not made for him and she would not force herself to be.

So the next day, when Harry had arrived at the Burrow, she'd made herself scarce. She'd smiled and nodded at him and then gone out into the backyard to fly. He'd followed her, he always followed her, and she'd landed in front of him - broomstick in hand. He'd shuffled at her and smiled that awkward smile that had made her knees weak, he seemed to sense something was wrong and as he spoke his expression became painfully earnest. 

"It's safe now, we can be together. I didn't want to but I had to keep you safe. You understand that, don't you Gin? I couldn't bare it, I love you so much"

She'd shaken her head and said he didn't, not really. As the adorably befuddled look he wore so well started to appear on his face she'd continued.

"You love the idea of me, Harry. I'm sure you're fond of me but you don't love me. If you loved me you would know me. You took away my choice, you took it away from me twice, and I don't know if I can forgive that"

Her heart was crying, and she wished she could have run back into his arms and been his, but that would have been a betrayal of her very self and she'd already flirted with that danger before.

That night, after the recriminations, and her family reassuring her ex-boyfriend that he just needed to give her space, that she would return, she sat on the back steps of the Burrow and wished the war had never happened. Then she wouldn't have had to see the way he saw her.

***

When it got to be too much, when her father's hand on her shoulder, her mother's lectures, and Ron's accusing stares became too much - she snuck out the house. She'd clambered over the back fence and started to amble over the hills towards Luna's house. Halfway there was a small stream where she and Luna had spent most of the holidays between first and second year at. As she turned around the oak tree that she'd carved her name into just before she left for Hogwarts, after all the fights about whether she should repeat a year or not, into which she'd reclaimed herself - Ginny caught a flash of blonde hair. There, sitting with her bare feet dangling into the water was Luna. She bounded over to her friend, who flinched violently when she touched her shoulder. Who had spent six years being bullied at school and was able to walk like she didn't notice... There was a lump in her throat and when Luna turned and gave her a welcoming smile that was a touch too empty and a touch too tired she nearly cried. 

They sat in silence until the sun started to fall and as they stood to leave Luna said in her usual dreamy voice

"Daddy heard rumours that the Whirlyburl was seen nesting on the mainland. It's a very important creature you know, it helps keep the nargle population under control. It would be very nice if you came too, I'm sure it would love to meet you"

And Ginny knew what she wasn't saying and agreed.

When she arrived back at the Burrow it was in a state. Her mother had grabbed her so tightly she thought her arms would bruise and they were all telling her how worried they'd been. The clock said she was safe but it had said it the year she'd spent under the Carrows so no-one in the family really trusted it anymore. She'd been pushed down at the kitchen table and fed multiple helpings of the dinner she'd missed. The only thing that kept her from screaming was the knowledge that within a couple of weeks she'd been in Europe, with Luna, away from her memories.

She'd packed her bags quietly, emptied some of the reparations money from her vault to carry with her, and stood waiting for Luna to arrive before she told her family what she was doing. Percy wanted to say something but wasn't sure enough of his position to actually open his mouth, Charlie and Father stood with their mouths turned down, Bill frowned at her in the way only the oldest brother can, and Ron had loudly protested her going on a Grand Sneer as if she had money and time to waste. Her mother had stood with her hands on her hips, mouth pursed, and had just started to say

"Now see here, young lady, you will not..." when Luna appeared in the doorway.

"Oh," she said blinking her wide eyes at the room "you have an awfully large Blibbering Humdinger in here. Did you know?"

In the resulting Lovegood commotion (characterised by a poleaxed expression and inability to speak or move) Ginny was able to extract herself from her concerned family and make her way to Luna.

"You didn't know, oh well it was lovely to see you. I'm so glad Ginny's coming with me, we might even see a Crumple-Haired Snorack, they're usually good friends with Whirlyburls"

And she'd turned to leave, pulling Ginny along behind her in a way that seemed to suggest she had no idea she was doing it. Ginny had turned and waved, and called back that she would owl them, and then they were gone.

***

The thing about Luna was that even while she had them clambering through forests, or diving into rivers, or nearly falling off cliffs that she simply didn't notice were there, she made Ginny feel more like herself. It wasn't that Ginny wasn't Ginny when she wasn't with Luna, it was just that part of her got slightly lost. When she was with Luna, she wasn't the youngest child or a Weasley - she was the girl who had punched bullies in the face, who had spent a glorious day walking through a stream looking for a gulping plimpy that she was ninety percent sure didn't exist. When she was with Luna, there was magic in the ordinary. Luna would sometimes just stop and look at a tree or a flower or the particular way that the sun was falling, utterly unconcerned that no one else did the same. When Ginny looked with her it was like she fell into a world that was beautiful and special and slightly calmer than her own. If Ginny was a storming wind then Luna was the autumn leaves that danced along with it. 

They'd been travelling for weeks now. Ducking into Rome, wandering through Florence, and going down into Italian villages without any sign of the Whirlyburl. Not that that was the point. At night in their hotel room Luna would tell her how scared she'd been in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. How worried she was about her father and her friends.The way the Death Eaters loved to single her out for curses, and hexes, and torture when they were bored. About the way the dungeons were so cold that Luna worried that Ollivander might die from the cough he'd developed. Sometimes Ginny would listen and sometimes she would tell Luna about how she felt different from her family, how she felt like they were choking the life out of her even if they didn't mean to, about how angry she was at her mother, and yet how thankful she was that she'd killed Bellatrix to protect her. She talked about how she couldn't help feeling like a villain for breaking up with Harry even though they weren't actually dating. The next morning they wouldn't talk about it again but every day Luna's face seemed to clear a little more, the spring in her step started to return, and Ginny's soul felt a little lighter.

Following Luna through the winding streets of Venice, with their coloured masks and glass, and then sitting in a cafe after a storm had suddenly rolled in watching everyone else scurry for shelter or buy an umbrella from a street vendor - Ginny was suddenly captivated by the way Luna's strawberry earrings made her lips seem more red and her cheeks pinker. When the shopkeeper brought out their drinks and Luna turned to send him a blinding smile, there was a sudden sharp stab in her heart and it was as if every part of her stopped and said  _Oh._

She walked with Luna to their hotel room and then down side streets to a small restaurant for dinner but all the while she couldn't stop thinking about how badly she wanted her best friend. How she wanted to brush away the wisps of hair that always fell in front of Luna's face, brush her hand across her chin, tilt that pale face up towards her and -

She'd nearly walked into Luna. Her friend was watching her, head slightly tilted to the side. They were stood in a little courtyard with a tree growing in the middle and the sea just behind them. Ginny thought she'd never forget the way that square looked when Luna reached out her hand, pulled Ginny to stand flush against her, rested her head on her shoulder and simply said:

"Me too"


End file.
